Film director Ron Howard, a Greenwich resident, attends the United States Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas on November 18, 2012 in Austin, Texas. Howard is the executive producer of new episodes of “Arrested Development,” which ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006 and will be released on Netflix May 26. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) less

Film director Ron Howard, a Greenwich resident, attends the United States Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas on November 18, 2012 in Austin, Texas. Howard is the executive producer of new ... more

Photo: Mark Thompson, Getty Images

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Actors, from left, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat attend a screening of "Arrested Development" Season 4 at a central London cinema, Thursday, May 9, 2013. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP) less

Actors, from left, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat attend a screening of "Arrested Development" Season 4 at a central London cinema, Thursday, May 9, 2013. (Photo by Joel ... more

But for a new generation of television viewers, Greenwich resident Ron Howard is simply an unnamed voice that narrates the cult-hit show "Arrested Development."

The reboot of the short-lived sitcom about a wealthy, dysfunctional family, which ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006, will be released on Netflix May 26. Howard, 59, an executive producer of the show, also has a cameo, and is still working with the show's creators on some finishing touches to the unconventional project.

The Oscar-winning director spoke with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers about the long-awaited Bluth family reunion, a wide array of current projects, including a documentary featuring Jay-Z, and his desire to contribute to Connecticut's growing film industry.

Q: As executive producer of "Arrested Development," what kind of role do you have with the show, other than as narrator?

A: Initially, the idea of the tone and the style of the show was something that I was eager to try on TV. A little bit more of a documentary feel. (Creator) Mitch (Hurwitz) elevated it with the absurdly hilarious characters, with all their dysfunctions.

I was a champion of the show. I worked with Mitch a little bit on the style, but he really took it from there. I wasn't supposed to be the narrator. I just did that as sort of a temp track. It was something we were experimenting with, but it stuck, and Mitch called me back one day when they tested the pilot and he said, "Well, the good news is that among the highest testing factors was the narration." So, I was drafted into a full-time job there. Now, it's much more a function of the business of getting it done, getting it rebooted, being a part of making the decisions along with Mitch, along with (producer) Brian Grazer and our other partners, as to what really can be done with the show and trying to be a catalyst in this sort of experimental approach. I thought it was exciting and interesting.

Q: Can you describe what went into getting the show back into production?

A: It is complicated because it was experimental. We'd been angling toward a movie, and we still are. But, as the years passed, Mitch began developing story lines. There was just so much material, it was really more than a movie could hold. There was a lot of comedy there to ignore by approaching it that way. It became clear to both Mitch and I that it would make some great episodes. They are a drumroll into something else. They're a drumroll into what we still hope is a movie.

That's what coincided with Netflix reaching out to us and saying, if you have any interest in more anything, more "Arrested Development" in any way, shape or form, we'd love to talk to you about it, because our fans clearly love the show and we think there's an appetite for more based on the data that we've collected. That was Ted Sarandos (chief content officer at Netflix). Cable companies were interested in what a reboot might look like, but there was just a real passion for it at Netflix, and there was something bold about it, and experimental, which is just kind of consistent with what the show is, anyway. It felt organic and right for us. It was also a little nod to the fans. Technology and the Internet, and the access and the downloading, I think is what has kept the show vital and fresh in people's minds. It seemed, to us, a good way to go.

Q: I was interested to see you're in talks with Netflix about an adaptation of the Stephen King book series `The Dark Tower.'

A: I can't really comment on that. The one thing I think I can say is "The Dark Tower" is something that I am far from letting go of, and I've continued to work on it. We've been staying a little bit below the radar because there was just so much noise about it, it was putting a lot of pressure on the process that I didn't think was necessarily healthy. But, I've become my own brand as "Tower head" and don't want to let go of that dream.

Q: Circling back to "Arrested Development," what are you most excited, of this new series of episodes, for fans to see?

A: Because it's Netflix, that offered Mitch and company a little added measure of freedom. There's an eye toward binge viewing, and the possibility that a lot of people are going to view these episodes more as a whole than as the single episodes. So, it's designed in that way. It's a fantastic story construction that's hilarious and smart, and I think really unique to the way TV comedy has ever been presented before.

Q: Was filming the new episodes different from working on the other three seasons?

A: I was virtually never around much when we were filming. I do my narration from all over the place. Like, I did the first bit of narration for these Netflix episodes from the trailer of a 1976 Ferrari Formula One car because I was still directing "Rush" in England -- that's a movie about Formula One racers from the '70s. So I literally, at lunchtime, went in there because it was the quietest space I could find at the track, and shut the doors and recorded the first episode. And that's always the way it's been. So, I wasn't around much as they were shooting. I'd visit once in a while.

Brian Grazer and I are actually going to show up in these episodes, in a few places. It was a lot of fun and it was inspiring to see how much joy the actors were getting out of re-inhabiting these characters. They're just laughing and enjoying it, and appreciative that there's more "Arrested Development" to do. I think that infuses all the episodes. I hope there are more still. Everything about this show has been kind of its own little unpredictable expedition. We'll see how fans respond to these episodes. Everything about this show's life has turned out to be about the commitment of the fans and how vocal they're willing to be.

Q: How much of the online discussion do you tune in to?

A: Not too much. But, in the last year or so, I've picked up the Twitter hobby (@RealRonHoward). I've really been enjoying that, and I get a lot of feedback via Twitter. Every time I tweet something about "Arrested Development," or me doing some narration, it's among the highest retweeted (comments). I'd say "Arrested Development" and anything at a racetrack that I've tweeted have been among the highest-rated tweets.

Q: What are some other projects that you're working on now that you can discuss?

A: I'm working on a number of things. There's a new kind of television show that I think is kind of experimental that I'm a part of that we're going to do for Fox. We're going to shoot that next month. (It's) untitled at this point. There are movies that I'm prepping, projects that I'm working on -- an adaptation of "The Graveyard Book," a Neil Gaiman book, for Disney. Like I said, still working on "Dark Tower" (and) an adaption of (Jon) Krakauer's book, "Under the Banner of Heaven."

I'm in post-production on my first documentary, which is called "Made in America." It's about Jay-Z and the festival that he curates in Philly. The first one was last September, and I covered that. It's a really fascinating, cool story, full of remarkable talents and individuals, both on stage and backstage, and Jay-Z has been a really amazing guy to get to know and understand. Creatively, I feel like it's a good period for me. I'm getting to work on a lot of different kinds of shows, from the edgy comedy of "Arrested Development" to the drama of a thing like "In the Heart of the Sea" (Howard recently scouted filming locations in Mystic for an adaptation of this book about the crew of the Essex, which was sunk by a sperm whale in 1820) or "Under the Banner of Heaven," to the fantasy of "The Graveyard Book" or "Dark Tower." It's exciting for me.

Q: With the Connecticut film industry booming, have you ever considered shooting in Greenwich?

A: When I was raising my kids here, all I would do is dream of finding something that I could do in New York or, better yet, Connecticut. Now that there are these tax breaks, and all kinds of incentives to be here, I haven't had a script that I could do here. It's one of those frustrating ironies. But, I'm searching. I'm searching all the time.